Capabilities and supplier evidence
A capability describes a manufacturing process and its known requirements. It helps you decide which option deserves closer review; it is not a purchase offer.
Discover and inspect
Section titled “Discover and inspect”Discovery supports CNC, PCBA, injection molding, sheet metal, 3D printing, wire harnesses, assembly and testing. You can provide material, country, quantity, maximum lead time and maximum unit price. Ranking optimizes factory cost or supplier-reported speed.
Explicit filters are preferable to relying on a natural-language query alone. Discovery is a constrained catalog search, not an engineering feasibility guarantee.
Inspect the returned capability before preparing a request. The response includes accepted input, required production documents, execution behavior and pricing unknowns.
Read the source status
Section titled “Read the source status”| Record | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sample | Synthetic demonstration record; not a real supplier or quote |
| Sandbox interview capability | Synthetic/test facts collected under your sandbox key |
| Self-reported | Information supplied in an interview, visible within the organization |
| Published | Live record reviewed by Maglev for public discovery |
Published does not by itself mean site-audited, capacity-reserved or qualified for your product. Read the actual supporting source and ask for the evidence your acceptance criteria require. The API does not currently expose a complete freshness, site-audit or delivery-performance score.
Understand the price
Section titled “Understand the price”When unit and setup prices are both known:
Factory estimate = quantity × unit price + setup priceMaglev fee, freight, duties and taxes are separate unknowns until quoted. The estimate is non-binding. Missing prices are null, never zero. A quote for one revision or quantity is not automatically valid for another.
Compare quality deliberately
Section titled “Compare quality deliberately”Quality can mean dimensional accuracy, surface finish, reliability, traceability, test coverage or consistent yield. Name the criterion and ask for relevant evidence.
The current API does not rank quality. Keep that priority in your brief and use it in review. Do not use a low price or a certification name as a substitute for demonstrated fitness for the part.